Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

It appears our Looney Toon friends may be on vacation because there have been no topics of the week for a little while. Or perhaps they decided to let this run on autopilot for a while. Either way, if you?’re on vacation, good for you and if you are on autopilot, things seem to be running right along.

I will post this topic to see if anyone else is noticing this problem that seems to be growing by the day. More broken promises by the city seems like an appropriate title. A year or so ago the city enacted the controversial property maintenance standards. Now it seems they have abandoned enforcement entirely or at least selectively.

After this posting I will paste in an article outlining issues faced in Grandview but are being faced here.

Here are a couple of issues I am directly involved in. Each morning I take my dog and husband on a long walk. While we are not seeming to lose any weight and don?’t feel healthier, what the heck, the dog is in the best shape of his life. We have a pretty set course each morning and have had to adjust our times we walk to take into consideration neglected properties and the apparently abandonment of the property maintenance standards by assuring it is light during our walks.

Here are some things I noticed. Like the following article says, we are faced with tripping hazards due to deteriorated sidewalks. My husband has fallen twice. Fortunately his pride was bruised more than his body. Other than scraped hands, knees and a little abrasion to his lovely face, nothing has been permanently damaged ?– so far. The city doesn?’t seem to have time to go out and look at the conditions in some of the older subdivisions. Neither do they apparently have time to look at newer ones where there is apparently no standards set for the quality of the concrete used for some of the newer areas have the worst sidewalks.

In addition to some poor conditions of sidewalks, how come people have to park their cars in the driveway and completely block the sidewalks? Is this even legal? Especially when the rest of the driveway is empty!! Another thing ?– whose job is it to trim the trees growing in the area between the sidewalks and the streets? I mean come on, there are places you have to get on your knees and crawl under them! Is this really necessary? Nothing like a sharp stick in the eye at 6 in the morning to get your day off with a bang.

My next issue deals with the apparent (yes, I use apparent and apparently a lot, lest the city think I am accusing them of something) ever-growing number of abandoned houses in each neighborhood. I don?’t thin there is any neighborhood exempt from increasing abandonments. So I have a couple here in my neighborhood. One is close enough to my house to be a personal eyesore for me. My husband and two other neighbors have taken to mowing the yard themselves because no one else cared.

There is another one down the road a ways that none of those neighbors seem to care about so the grass and weeds are about waist high. We have called the city numerous times to get them to have someone come out to mow to keep with the maintenance standards. Guess what the city?’s response was. They say there are just too many cases in the city for them to deal with so they are dealing with none of them. How?’s that for service??

--to be continued

Broken promises

Another neighbor called and was told that the guy who was the code enforcement officer took another job and they city isn?’t filling behind him. So where do we stand? Is the city going to let the neighborhoods go to pot to save a few bucks? If the city says there are too many violations to contend with then what next? What happens if the police department takes the same attitude and says there are too many speeders to deal with so we are pulling the radar units out of all our cars? What happens if they say there are way too many breaking-and-enterings into cars at Marcus or Winderly so we?’re not patrolling there anymore? There?’s too much snow in Preston Trails so we?’re not plowing there anymore?

What has happened at City Hall? I read the papers and remember clearly how much ink was attributed to Manager Gilleland and all her support for the maintenance standards. I remember how much ink was given to then-chairman of the task force and now councilman Keith Smith. Smith, you are now in the positions of doing more than making policy, you can insure it is enforced. Why are you doing nothing??

Why are people like Smith and Gilleland so forgetful of what they said only a year ago? I realize Gilleland turned out to not be the person council thought she was when they hired her and obviously Smith, who made so many campaign statements about helping seniors in so many ways were just rhetoric because this senior that voted for you feels abandoned by you.

Come on Pickerington! Make me feel like my tax dollars are doing something besides funding your feeble attempts at ?“cooperation?” with the township. Forget them and start to take care of us for a change.

Grandview article

Grandview enforces sidewalk face-lift

Negligent homeowners to pay for repairs

By Kirk D . Richards THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


Grandview Heights homeowners who have received multiple notices to fix their sidewalks could soon see cityhired contractors doing the work and the bill on their property taxes.
The City Council is expected to approve an ordinance Monday giving the city the authority to repair sidewalks that residents have failed to fix and to assess the cost on their taxes.
Sandra Rosso is on the list of residents who have received several notices to fix sidewalks in front of their property. Her notice stated she has until Friday to comply.
Rosso, who has received an extension from the city while she makes other repairs to her property, initially questioned the fairness of the assessment. She said the sidewalks were in that condition when she moved into her home in October 2004.
Despite her misgivings, however, she thinks the idea of the city hiring a contractor and assessing her taxes might work well.
''It?’s such a hassle finding someone to do it,'' said Rosso, who is one of four property owners on Mulford Road on the city list.
City Administration Director Patrik Bowman said the ordinance is necessary because some residents have failed to comply after receiving notices for more than a year. He considers it a safety issue.
''We?’ve heard from enough pedestrians out there that there are concerns about sidewalks in disrepair,'' Bowman said yesterday.
Mayor Ray DeGraw said that it?’s been years since the city has made such a push.
''The huge majority of the people comply,'' DeGraw said.
Councilman Steve Von Jasinski said the ordinance could save homeowners money because the city could negotiate a good price with a contractor.
Under the proposal, the cost plus interest would have to be paid over a five-year period.
Von Jasinski?’s public safety committee is holding a public meeting at 8 a.m. today to go over details of the ordinance with the city building department. He expects the council to pass it Monday.
Resident Brad Williams said the city approved the work he did himself on a sidewalk. He laid a concrete ramp to connect a raised section of sidewalk to a lower one.
''I?’d rather do it myself,'' Williams said, to guarantee the work was done properly.
''It?’s kind of a raw deal because it?’s caused by city trees'' whose roots push up the concrete, he said.

krichards@dispatch.com

You might be right

You know, I've noticed some slippage in this area too. I though is was very isolated or that the enforcement guy must be out on vacation. Trash cans are now making their regular appearance in front of people's houses and going out to the curb a couple of days early and staying a couple of days late. All those crappy signs that seem to pop up everywhere were gone for a while and now are back.

What's up with all this? If city council is going to make up ordinances and ignore them completely then let's start a list of ordinances they don't have to enforce.

I'll start the list:

Smoking is now prohibited in all public buildings in the city of Pickerington.

Who's next?